On-board device, signaling system, and control method of moving vehicle

ABSTRACT

An on-board device is loaded in a moving vehicle traveling on a track. The on-board device determines whether or not a traveling route has been secured, based on station related data indicating data related to a branch on the traveling route of the moving vehicle and acquired from a station interface device of a station to which the branch belongs, and different moving vehicle related data indicating data related to a different moving vehicle acquired from the different moving vehicle on the traveling route. The on-board device determines the traveling of the moving vehicle on the secured traveling route based on the different moving vehicle related data.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a National Phase of International ApplicationNumber PCT/JP2013/059721, filed Mar. 29, 2013.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an on-board device, a signaling systemand a method of controlling a moving vehicle, and especially, to anon-board device of a moving vehicle moving on a track, a signalingsystem and a method of controlling the moving vehicle.

BACKGROUND ART

A moving vehicle (a train) traveling on a track as in a newtransportation system and a railway is known. A signaling system whichcontrols the traveling of such a moving vehicle is known. Theconventional signaling system is of a central supervisory control-type.In the central supervisory control-type signaling system, devices for amain safety function (a protection function) are concentrates in acontrol center and the traveling states of trains in a whole railroaddivision are grasped and managed, in order to realize a function safety.The devices for the safety function (protection devices) contain aninterlocking device, an ATP (Automatic Train Protection) ground device,and a station control device.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the conventionalsignaling system. This signaling system is divided into a controlcenter, (a group of) trains, stations and railroad tracks. The controlcenter grasps and manages the operation states of trains in the wholerailroad division, to realize the function safety. The control centercontains an operation control device 230, an ATP ground device 232, astation control device 234 and an interlocking device 236. Therespective devices are mutually connected by an exclusive-use LAN (LocalArea Network) 238 to be bi-directionally communicable. The operationcontrol device 230 controls the whole operation. The interlocking device236 carries out the protection of traveling routes of the trains. TheATP ground device 232 prevents a collision between the trains. Thestation control device 234 attains the function safety of the control ofthe opening/closing of platform screen doors and train doors at astation.

Each of the (group of) trains is provided with an on-board device 210.The on-board device 210 controls the operation of the train based on thecontrol of the control center. The on-board device 210 is connected withthe ATP ground device 232 by the exclusive-use LAN 238 to bebi-directionally communicable. The station is provided with a remote I/O220. The remote I/O 220 carries out the opening/closing control of theplatform screen door 240 and the control of railroad switches 250 on therailroad track based on the control of the control center. The remoteI/O 220 is connected with the station control device 234 and theinterlocking device 236 by an exclusive-use LAN to be bi-directionallycommunicable.

The operation of this conventional signaling system (the operation of atrain) becomes as described below, for example.

When a departure time of an optional train comes gets closer based onthe train diagram, the operation control device 230 refers to theon-rail state 205 from the ATP ground device 232 to check the on-railstate in the railroad division. When determining that the on-rail stateindicates that the train is possible to depart, the operation controldevice 230 issues a departure command (or a traveling route request) 206to the train.

When receiving the departure command (or the traveling route request)206, the interlocking device 236 refers to the on-rail state 205 in therailroad division to be received from the ATP ground device 232 at aconstant period and issues a command to the remote I/O 220 such that therailroad switches (branches) 250 in an object section for which thetrain travels, become coincident with the direction of a travelingroute. The remote I/O 220 controls the railroad switches (branches) 250in the object section for which the train travels, to be switched to thetraveling route direction. The interlocking device 236 locks therailroad switches (branches) 250 after the switching. As a result, thetraveling route of the train is exclusively established (traveling routecontrol 201). The other train never travels on the traveling route. Theinterlocking device 236 outputs the state of such a traveling route tothe ATP ground device 232 at a constant period as a traveling routestate 207.

The ATP ground device 232 always monitors a train position by using alatest train position 204 received from detectors arranged on therailroad track and the train. The ATP ground device 232 outputs theon-rail state 205 in the railroad division which is based on themonitoring result, to the interlocking device 236 at a constant period.Also, the ATP ground device 232 refers to the traveling route state 207received from the interlocking device 236 at a constant period, outputsa traveling permission 202 to the train for which the traveling route isestablished, while considering to keep a safety distance from apreceding train. The train generates a speed profile to a travelingpermission limit position when receiving the traveling permission 202,and starts to travel under the speed control to be carried out whilereferring to the profile.

The station control device 234 receives a train state 208 (the state inwhich the operation is perfectly stopped and a brake is working) throughthe ATP ground device 232, after the train has arrived at a station. Atthe same time, the station control device 234 checks a door state of aplatform screen door 240 through the remote I/O 220. After it isconfirmed that it is possible to open doors of the train and theplatform screen door 240, the station control device 234 issues a dooropening command 203 to (the on-board device 210 of) the train throughthe ATP ground device 232. At the same time, the station control device234 issues a door opening command 203 to the platform screen door 240through the remote I/O 220.

In this way, in the conventional signaling system, for example, thetraveling route control is carried out by the interlocking device 236 toestablish the traveling route of the train, and the train intervalprotection for issuing the traveling permission of the train is carriedout by the ATP ground device 232. In other words, in the conventionalsignaling system, the traveling route control and the train intervalprotection are carried out by different systems.

This method is a method proved based on results but having a problemdescribed below. For example, the method has a processing system inwhich the protection functions are independent from each other, asmentioned above. Therefore, the conventional signaling system has aredundant configuration. Therefore, considering the system configurationwhile paying attention to the safety of the signaling system, it is notpossible to step out from the above configuration and there is a limitin the cost reduction.

Also, when the signaling system is introduced, the operation controldevice 230, the interlocking device 236, the ATP ground device 232, andthe station control device 234 become necessary to control theoperations of all the trains in the whole railroad division regardlessof a railroad division scale and the details of the train operation.These are a minimum configuration when the signaling system isconfigured, and there is a limit in reduction of an introduction cost.

Especially, the operation control device 230, the ATP ground device 232,control device 234 and the interlocking device 236 control theoperations of all the trains in the whole railroad division. Therefore,each device is allocated with a very large load. For this reason, eachdevice is extremely large in size and is expensive. Therefore, atechnique is demanded in which a space for the device can be reduced, anintroduction cost can be reduced, and the handling is easy.

Because three devices respectively having three independent functions ofa departure and arrival control of the train, a traveling routeestablishment, and a traveling permission control cooperate to issue atraveling command to a train, the routes for information transmissionwhich is necessary for a sequence control order increase so that aprocess until the traveling command is outputted to the train takes muchtime. For this reason, it takes much time for the train to depart astation so that it has an influence on a transportation capacity.

As a related art, JP 2012-96704A discloses a radio train control systemand a radio train control method. The radio train control systemincludes a central device, a station control device provided for eachrailroad station and connected with the central device to becommunicable, an on-board device provided in each train and connectedwith the station control device to be radio-communicable in a radiocommunication area of a station and a periphery of the station. In thisradio train control system, the on-board device includes transmissionmeans for transmitting position information to the station controldevice. The station control device includes main operation means forreceiving the position information from the on-board device, storingon-rail information showing that the train is on a rail everypartitioning section, transmitting the on-rail information to thecentral device, receiving instruction information from the centraldevice, and controlling devices in the station based on the instructioninformation. The central device includes main operation means fordetermining a traveling permission range of each train based on theon-rail information received from the station control device andtransmitting instruction information to the station control device.Moreover, the station control device further includes advance datastoring means for setting advance data showing that the train advancedinto the station, to a inerasable state when cannot be normallycommunicated with the central device. The central device includes returnmeans for receiving all the advance data from the station control deviceand returning to a main use operation from a temporary use operationafter the partitioning sections where all the trains are present aredetermined.

Also, JP 2012-131324A discloses an operation security method and anoperation security system. The operation security method is a method bythe operation security system which includes 1) a control device whichmanages an occupation state in each closed section, 2) a railroad switchcontrol device which controls a railroad switch, and 3) an on-boarddevice which is loaded into a train and carries out an interlockingcontrol of the configuration of a traveling schedule route based on eachclosed section and position information of the railroad switch. Themethod includes a securement request step in which the on-board devicetransmits a securement request signal to the control device to requestthe occupation securement of the closed sections of a traveling scheduleroute; an occupation securing step in which the control device carriesout a determination of whether or not all of the closed sections of thetraveling schedule route meet a predetermined occupation possiblecondition, based on the securement request signal, sets all the closedsections to occupation existence when meeting the predeterminedoccupation possible condition, and transmits a securement signal to theon-board device; a first switching instruction step in which theon-board device transmits a switching instruction signal to a switchcontrol device for a switch on the traveling scheduled route whenreceiving the securement signal; a switching step in which the switchcontrol device carries out the switch and lock operation to transmits aswitching completion signal to the on-board device when receiving theswitching instruction signal; a traveling permission step in which theon-board device permits the traveling to the traveling scheduled routewhen receiving the switching completion signal; a release request stepin which the on-board device transmits a release request signal torequest the occupation release of the closed section which the train hastraveled; and an occupation release step in which the control devicereleases the occupation of a target closed section based on the releaserequest signal.

CITATION LIST

-   [Patent Literature 1] JP 2012-96704A-   [Patent Literature 2] JP 2012-131324A

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a signalingsystem in which a space for devices and so on can be reduced. Also,another object of the present invention is to provide a signaling systemin which the introduction cost can be reduced. A further another objectof the present invention is to provide a signaling system in which thetreatment of devices is easy.

The on-board device of the present invention is an on-board device whichis loaded on a moving vehicle traveling to on a track. The on-boarddevice includes a control device which controls the traveling of themoving vehicle. The control device includes a traveling route securementdetermining section and a traveling determining section. The travelingroute securement determining section determines whether or not atraveling route has been secured, based on station related data thatindicates data related to a branch on the traveling route of the movingvehicle and that is acquired from a station interface device of astation to which the branch belongs, and different moving vehiclerelated data that indicates data related to a different moving vehicleand that is acquired from the different moving vehicle on the travelingroute. The traveling determining section determines the traveling of themoving vehicle on the secured traveling route based on the differentmoving vehicle related data.

In the above-mentioned on-board device, the traveling route securementdetermining section may contain a different train state checking sectionand a station state checking section. In this case, the different trainstate checking section inquires the different moving vehicle relateddata to the different moving vehicle. The station state checking sectioninquires station related data to the station to which the branchbelongs.

In the above-mentioned on-board device, the different moving vehiclerelated data includes traveling permission limit position dataindicating a range where the moving vehicle succeeding to the differentmoving vehicle is permitted to travel. The traveling determining sectiondetermines the traveling of the moving vehicle within the range wherethe traveling of the moving vehicle is permitted, based on the travelingpermission limit position data.

The above-mentioned on-board device may further include a radio LANcommunication device configured to acquire the moving vehicle relateddata and the station related data through a radio LAN.

A signaling system of the present invention includes a plurality ofon-board devices and a plurality of station interface devices. Each ofthe plurality of on-board devices is loaded on one of the plurality ofmoving vehicles traveling the track and is described in any one of theabove paragraphs. Each of the plurality of station interface devices isbi-directionally communicable with the plurality of on-board devices,and is provided in one of the plurality of stations provided on a middleway of the track to control the branch belonging to the station.

A control method of a moving vehicle of the present invention is acontrol method of a moving vehicle traveling on a track. The methodincludes securing a traveling route by an on-board device of the movingvehicle, based on station related data that indicates data related to abranch on the traveling route of the moving vehicle and that is acquiredfrom a station interface device of a station to which the branchbelongs, and different moving vehicle related data that indicates datarelated to a different moving vehicle and that is acquired from thedifferent moving vehicle on the traveling route; and determining thetraveling of the moving vehicle on the secured traveling route based onthe different moving vehicle related data.

In the above-mentioned control method of the moving vehicle, thesecuring the traveling route may include: inquiring the different movingvehicle related data to the different moving vehicle by the on-boarddevice; and inquiring the station related data to the station to whichthe branch belongs, by the on-board device.

In the above-mentioned control method of the moving vehicle, thedifferent moving vehicle related data may include traveling permissionlimit position data indicating a range where the moving vehiclesucceeding to the different moving vehicle is permitted to travel. Thedetermining the traveling may include: determining the traveling of themoving vehicle within the range where the traveling of the movingvehicle is permitted, by the on-board vehicle, based on the travelingpermission limit position data.

The above-mentioned method of controlling the moving vehicle may furtherinclude acquiring the moving vehicle related data and the stationrelated data through a radio LAN by the on-board device.

A recording medium of the present invention which stores a program tomake a computer execute a method of controlling the moving vehicledescribed in any one of the above paragraphs.

According to the present invention, the space of a device and so on canbe reduced. Also, by the present invention, the reduction of theintroduction cost becomes possible. Moreover, in the present invention,the treatment of devices becomes easy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The object and other objects, advantages and features of the presentinvention could be understood in detail from the description of thefollowing embodiments (examples), with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventionalsignaling system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a signaling systemaccording to a first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of thesignaling system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a controldevice of an on-board device in the signaling system according to thefirst embodiment.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram showing a configuration example of thecontrol device of a station I/F device in the signaling system accordingto the first embodiment.

FIG. 5A is a block diagram showing a configuration of a storage unit ofthe on-board device in the signaling system according to the firstembodiment.

FIG. 5B is a block diagram showing a configuration of the storage unitof the station I/F device in the signaling system according to the firstembodiment.

FIG. 5C is a block diagram showing a configuration of the storage unitof an operation control device in the signaling system according to thefirst embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration example of arailroad line to which the signaling system according to the firstembodiment is applied.

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing a scene of a train intervalprotection in case of inter-station traveling of a train in a stationintermediate section.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing an operation when the on-board device ofthe train communicates with other device.

FIG. 9A is a flow chart showing an operation of the train intervalprotection in case of inter-station traveling of the train in thestation intermediate section.

FIG. 9B is a flow chart showing an operation when the on-board device ofthe train carries out branch release of the station I/F device.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of atraveling route securement determining section of the control device inthe signaling system according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram schematically showing the state of a railroad lineto which the signaling system according to the second embodiment isapplied.

FIG. 12 is a diagram schematically showing a scene of train intervalprotection in case of inter-station traveling of the train at a time ofgeneration of a failure section.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing an operation of the train intervalprotection in case of inter-station traveling of the train at a time ofgeneration of the failure.

FIG. 14 is a diagram schematically showing a state of a railroad line towhich the signaling system according to a third embodiment is applied.

FIG. 15 is a diagram schematically showing a scene of the train intervalprotection in case of inter-station traveling of the train in an endstation portion.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, a signaling system according to embodiments of the presentinvention will be described with reference to the attached drawings.

In this signaling system, a protection function, which is achieved by aprotection device (of an interlocking device, an ATP ground device, anda station control device) in the conventional signaling system, isprovided in an on-board device of a moving vehicle (a train) in adifferent configuration. As a result, the on-board device judgestraveling route securement autonomously and determines a traveling route(establishing a traveling route autonomously and permitting thetraveling autonomously), and the train interval protection can beautonomously carried out. Thus, the reduction of a device load in acontrol center, the reduction of a device space, the reduction of anintroduction cost, and the easy handling of devices are realized.Hereinafter, the respective embodiments will be described in detail.

First Embodiment 1. Configuration

The configuration of a signaling system according to a first embodimentof the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagramshowing the configuration of the signaling system according to thepresent embodiment. The signaling system 1 is divided into sections of acontrol center 4, (a group of) trains 2, stations 3 and railroad tracks50.

The control center 4 grasps an operation state of the trains 2 in thewhole of railroad divisions. The control center 4 is provided with anoperation control device 30. The operation control device 30 isconnected with (on-board devices 10 of) the trains 2 and (stationinterface devices 20 of) the stations 3 through a general-purpose LAN 60to be communicable bi-directionally. The operation control device 30receives data of the trains 2 (e.g. train positions 101) from the trains2, receives data of platform screen doors, train doors and railroadswitches (e.g. door states 106, and railroad switch switching positions104) from the stations 3, and displays them on a display unit (notshown). Also, the operation control device 30 sets an operation mode 105and a train diagram of the train 2, and transmits them to the trains 2and the stations 3. The operation mode 105 is exemplified by a normalmode in which a usual operation is carried out, and a failure mode inwhich a failure has occurred on a track. Any devices which havefunctions of the operation control device 230, the ATP ground device232, the station control device 234, and the interlocking device 236,which are shown in FIG. 1, are not arranged in the control center 4.

There are a plurality of trains 2. Each train 2 grasps an operationstate of each of neighbor trains 2, manages its own operation, andrealizes a function safety. The train 2 is provided with the on-boarddevice 10. The on-board device 10 is connected with (a station I/Fdevice 20 of) each of the stations 3 through the general-purpose LAN 60to be communicable bi-directionally. The on-board device 10 checks arailroad switch switching position 104 indicating a switching positionof each of railroad switches through the station 3, and controls theprotection of a traveling route of the train 2 by carrying out aswitching control 102 to switch the railroad switch according tonecessity. Moreover, the on-board device 10 controls the collisionprevention with a preceding train or a succeeding train by communicatingwith the preceding and succeeding trains 2. Moreover, the on-boarddevice 10 carries out a door opening/closing control 103 to open orclose the train door and the platform screen door in the station 3, toattain a function safety of the train door and the platform screen door.In this way, the on-board device 10 is provided with the protectionfunction that has been attained by the protection device (of theinterlocking device, the ATP ground device, and the station controldevice) in the conventional signaling system, in a different form.Therefore, the interlocking device, the ATP ground device, and thestation control device can be removed from the devices of the controlcenter 4.

There are a plurality of stations 3. Each of the stations 3 carries outthe opening/closing of the platform screen door 40 and the switching ofthe railroad switches 51 on the railroad track 50. The station 3 isprovided with the station I/F device (station interface device) 20. Thestation I/F device 20 controls the opening/closing of the platformscreen door 40 based on the control of the on-board device 10. Moreover,the station I/F device 20 controls the switching of the plurality ofrailroad switches 51 on the railroad track 50 on the inbound side andthe outbound side in the neighborhood of the station 3 based on thecontrol of the on-board device 10. Moreover, the station I/F device 20manages a switching request to the railroad switches 51 from each train2. When the requests compete, the station I/F device 20 does not acceptthe later switching request.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of thesignaling system according to the present embodiment. The operationcontrol device 30 of the control center 4 is provided with a centercontrol device 31, a center storage unit 32 and a center communicationdevice 33. The center control device 31 is an information processingdevice which is exemplified by a computer, and is provided with a CPU(Central Processing Unit), a storage section, an input section, anoutput section and an interface, which are not shown. The center controldevice 31 executes information processing for the operation controldevice 30. The center storage unit 32 is a storage unit which isexemplified by a hard disk drive, RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM(Read Only Memory), and stores data and a software program which areused in the center control device 31, and data and a software programwhich are outputted from the center control device 31. The centercommunication device 33 is a radio LAN transmitting and receiving unitwhich carries out a data communication through the general-purpose LAN60. The center communication device 33 transmits data and the softwareprogram which are outputted from the center control device 31, to theon-board device 10 and the station I/F device 20, and receives data andthe software program which are transmitted from the on-board device 10and the station I/F device 20 to output to the center control device 31.

The general-purpose LAN 60 is provided with a plurality of base stations61. The plurality of base stations 61 are arranged in the control center4 and each station 3 and at a plurality of locations along the railroadtrack 50. The base station 61 mediates a radio communication among theoperation control device 30, the plurality of the on-board devices 10and the plurality of the station I/F devices 20 to allow data to be sentand received among them. Note that in the present embodiment, an exampleusing the radio LAN as the communication means is shown. However,different communication means may be used if it is possible to send andreceive data among them.

The on-board device 10 of the train 2 is provided with a control device11, a storage unit 12 and a communication device 13. The control device11 is an information processing device which is exemplified by acomputer, and is provided with a CPU, a storage section, an inputsection, an output section and an interface, which are not shown. Thecontrol device 11 executes information processing for the on-boarddevice 10. The storage unit 12 is a storage which is exemplified by ahard disk drive, RAM and ROM, and stores data and a software programwhich are used in the control device 11, and data and a software programwhich are outputted from the control device 11. The communication device13 is a radio LAN transmitting and receiving unit which carries out adata communication through the general-purpose LAN 60. The communicationdevice 13 transmits the data and the software program which areoutputted from the control device 11, to the on-board device 10 of theoperation control device 30, and another train 2, the station I/F device20, and receives the data and the software program which are transmittedfrom the on-board device 10 of the operation control device 30, theother train 2 and the station I/F device 20 to output to the controldevice 11.

Moreover, the train 2 is provided with a rotation count sensor 18 and areceiver 19. The rotation count sensor 18 detects the number ofrotations of a wheel and a time change of them to output to the controldevice 11. The control device 11 calculates a position and speed of thetrain 2 based on the number of rotations and the time change of it.However, because the calculation of the position is carried out byintegrating the number of rotations of the wheel, there is a possibilitythat an error comes out to an extent in case of a long-range integrationdue to the influences such as slip and tire abrasion. Therefore, a trackantenna beacon (a transponder) 52 is installed in the railroad track 50at a predetermined interval and the position is corrected every time thedata of the track antenna beacon 52 is received, to prevent theaccumulation of the error.

The station I/F device 20 of the station 3 is provided with a stationcontrol device 21, a station storage unit 22 and a station communicationdevice 23. The station control device 21 is an information processingunit which is exemplified by a computer, and is provided with a CPU, astorage section, an input section, an output section and an interface,which are not shown. The station I/F device 20 executes informationprocessing for the station I/F device 20. The station storage unit 22 isa storage unit which is exemplified by a hard disk drive, RAM and ROM,and stores data and a software program which are used in the stationcontrol device 21, and data and a software program which are outputtedfrom the station control device 21. The station communication device 23is a radio LAN transmitting and receiving unit which carries out a datacommunication through the general-purpose LAN 60, transmits the data andthe software program which are outputted from the station control device21, to the operation control device 30, the on-board device 10 and thestation I/F device 20 of the other station 3, and receives the data andthe software program, which are transmitted from the operation controldevice 30, the on-board device 10 and the station I/F device 20 of theother station 3, to output to the station control device 21.

Moreover, the station 3 is provided with the platform screen door 40.The station control device 21 detects a state of the platform screendoor 40 and controls the opening/closing of the platform screen door 40.Moreover, the station control device 21 is connected with the pluralityof railroad switches 51 (a plurality of branches) on the railroad track50, which are arranged in the neighborhood of the station 3. Therailroad switch 51 is a branch of the railroad track 53. The stationcontrol device 21 detects the state of each of the plurality of railroadswitches 51 and controls the switching of each of the plurality ofrailroad switches 51.

Next, the control device of the on-board device 10 will be moredescribed. FIG. 4A is a block diagram showing a configuration example ofthe control device of the signaling system according to the presentembodiment. In the control device, for example, the CPU develops acomputer program installed in the hard disk drive through an interfacefrom a recording medium, in RAM (Random Access Memory). Then, the CPUexecutes the developed computer program, and realizes informationprocessing of the computer program while controlling a hardwareconfiguration such as the storage section, the input section, the outputsection, the interface, the storage unit 12 and the communication device13 according to necessity. The storage section and the storage unit 12record the computer program and record the data used by the CPU and thegenerated data. The input section outputs the data generated throughoperation by the user and another device to the CPU and the storagesection. The output section outputs the data generated by the CPU andthe data stored in the storage section to the user and the otherapparatus to be recognizable.

The control device 11 grasps the operation states of neighbor trains 2,manages its own operation and carries out a control for realizing afunction safety. The control device 11 is provided with a travelingroute securement determining section 70, a traveling determining section80, a train traveling control section 90 and a door control section 120.The traveling route securement determining section 70, the travelingdetermining section 80, the train traveling control section 90 and thedoor control section 120 are realized by the computer program, or bycooperation between the computer program and the hardware configuration.

The traveling route securement determining section 70 carries out acontrol for the protection of a traveling route of the train 2 itself.That is, the traveling route securement determining section 70 checksthe securement of the traveling route based on station related data (tobe described later) and different train related data (to be describedlater). Specifically, the traveling route securement determining section70 checks the railroad switch switching position showing the switchingposition of the railroad switch 51 through the station 3, and carriesout the switching control to switch the railroad switch 51 according tonecessity. The traveling route securement determining section 70 isprovided with an operation mode checking section 71, a different trainstate checking section 72, a station state checking section 73 and atraveling route establishing section 74. The operation mode checkingsection 71 checks the operation mode. The different train state checkingsection 72 acquires the different train related data and checks thestate of a different train 2. The station state checking section 73acquires the station related data and checks the state of the station(e.g. the switching position of the railroad switch 51 (a branchstate)). The traveling route establishing section 74 switches theswitching position of the railroad switch 51 according to necessity andestablishes (secures) the traveling route for the train 2.

The traveling determining section 80 carries out a control for thecollision prevention among the trains 2. That is, the travelingdetermining section 80 determines the traveling of the moving vehicle onthe traveling route which was secured based on the different movingvehicle related data. Specifically, the traveling determining section 80communicates with the neighbor train 2 and grasps a range where thetrain 2 itself is permitted to pass or travel, and permits the passageof the train 2 in the range (determines the traveling of the train 2itself). The traveling determining section 80 is provided with atraveling permission limit position checking section 81. The travelingpermission limit position checking section 81 checks a travelingpermission limit position of the train 2. Here, the traveling permissionlimit position shows a limit position where the traveling (moving) ispermitted to the targeted train 2 (e.g. distance from a reference point,or distance to a preceding train).

The train traveling control section 90 carries out a control for thetrain 2 to move (travel) based on a train diagram of the train 2, aposition of the train 2, and the traveling permission limitationposition. The train traveling control section 90 is provided with atraveling section 91, a speed profile generating section 94 and a traindiagram checking section 95. The traveling section 91 drives the train 2to travel. The train diagram checking section 95 checks the traindiagram of the train 2 and issues a departure command at a departuretime. The speed profile generating section 94 generates a speed limitprofile showing an upper limit value of speed when traveling from acurrent station at which the train 2 is in a stop state to a next stopstation, based on a distance from the targeted train 2 to the travelingpermission limitation position.

The door control section 120 carries out a control for the functionsafety of the doors of the train 2 and the platform screen door bycontrolling the opening/closing of the doors of the train 2 and theplatform screen door 40 in the station 3.

Next, the station control device 21 of the station I/F device 20 will bemore described. FIG. 4B is a block diagram showing a configurationexample of the station control device 21 of the signaling systemaccording to the present embodiment. In the station control device 21,for example, the CPU develops the computer program installed in the harddisk drive through an interface from a storage medium, in the RAM. Then,the CPU execute the developed computer program, and realizes informationprocessing of the computer program while controlling a hardwareconfiguration such as a storage section, an input section, an outputsection, an interface, the station storage unit 22, and the stationcommunication device 23 according to necessity. The storage section andthe storage unit 12 record the computer program and record data used bythe CPU and the generated data. The input section outputs the datagenerated through the operation by the user and the other device to theCPU and the storage section. The output section outputs the datagenerated by the CPU and the data of the storage section to the user andthe other devices to be recognizable.

The station control device 21 controls the opening/closing of theplatform screen door 40 and the switching of the railroad switch 51 ofthe railroad track 50. The station control device 21 is provided with arailroad switch operating section 25. The railroad switch operatingsection 25 is realized by the computer program or the cooperationbetween the computer program and the hardware configuration.

The railroad switch operating section 25 outputs the railroad switchswitching position data showing a switching position of the railroadswitch 51 in response to an inquiry of the station related data from thetrain 2. Also, the railroad switch operating section 25 determineswhether the switching of the railroad switch 51 is possible or not,based on a railroad switch switching command from the train. When therailroad switch 51 has been locked in response to the railroad switchswitching command from a different train 2, the railroad switchoperating section 25 refuses the switching of the railroad switch 51.When the railroad switch 51 has not been locked, the railroad switchoperating section 25 carries out the switching of the railroad switch 51and retains the railroad switch switching command as a part of therailroad switch switching position data (stores in the station storageunit 22). While the railroad switch switching command is retained, theswitching state of the railroad switch 51 is maintained (locked). Inthis case, the railroad switch operating section 25 erases the railroadswitch switching command based on a railroad switch release command froma source side train 2. Thus, the lock state of the railroad switch 51 isreleased. The station control device 21 of the station I/F device 20grasps whether or not there is a failure on the traveling route to theother station 3 which is neighbor to the station 3, based on an inputfrom a user and a notice from the station I/F device 20 of the otherstation 3.

Next, the main data which are stored in the storage unit 12, the stationstorage unit 22 and the center storage unit 32 will be described.

FIG. 5A is a block diagram showing the configuration of the storage unit12 of the on-board device 10 of the signaling system according to thepresent embodiment. The storage unit 12 contains operation mode data130, train diagram data 131, station related data 132, train relateddata 133 and basic data 134 at least.

The operation mode data 130 contains data showing in what mode the train2 travels. The operation mode data 130 is exemplified by the normal modeshowing a usual operation and the failure mode showing a case where afailure has occurred on the track (it is the same as the operation mode105 of FIG. 2). The operation mode data 130 is supplied from theoperation control device 30 and is same for all the trains 2 on arailroad line.

The train diagram data 131 contains data showing the train diagram ofthe train 2. The train diagram data 131 is supplied from the operationcontrol device 30 and is different for every train 2. However, the traindiagram data 131 may contain only the train diagram of the train 2 andthe neighbor train 2. Or, the train diagram data may be data of anoperation interval.

When the train 2 is in a stop state, the station related data 132contains data related to a current station (hereinafter, to be referredto as the station 3A) at which the train 2 is in the stop state, datarelated to the next station as the station 3 (hereinafter, to bereferred to as the station 3B) for the train to be stopped next, datarelated to a previous station as the station 3 (hereinafter, to bereferred to as the station 3C) for the train to have been stopped lasttime. When the train 2 is traveling, the station related data 132contains data related to the previous station as the station 3 for thetrain 2 to have departed and data related to the next station as thestation 3. The station related data 132 is updated appropriately (e.g.regularly) and is different for every train 2. The station related data132 contains the railroad switch switching position data and theinter-station section state data. The railroad switch switching positiondata shows a switching position of each of the plurality of railroadswitches 51 which belongs to the targeted stations 3A, 3B and 3C (theprevious station, the current station, the next station), and containsthe railroad switch command data (to be described later) of eachrailroad switch 51. Moreover, the railroad switch switching positiondata may contain the locked state or the unlocked state of the railroadswitch 51. The inter-station section state data shows whether or notthere is a failure in an inter-station section (e.g. between the station3A and the station 3B, between the station 3A and the station 3C) amongthe targeted stations 3A, 3B and 3C, and whether or not a differenttrain is not in the on-rail state between the stations (the on-railclearance between the stations).

The train related data 133 contains data showing the moving (traveling)of the train 2 (hereinafter, to be referred to as the train 2A) and adifferent train 2 (hereinafter, to be referred to as the train 2B)around the train 2A and related to the traveling. The train related data133 is updated appropriately (e.g. regularly) and is different for everytrain 2. The train related data 133 contains train position data,traveling permission limit position data, arrival scheduled platformdata, traveling direction data, traveling route data and traveling linedata. The train position data shows a position (e.g. a distance from areference point) of each of targeted trains 2 (the train 2A and thetrain 2B). The reference point is exemplified by a stop position in astarting station and a position of a track antenna beacon provided onthe railroad track. The traveling permission limit position data shows alimit position for the targeted train 2 to be permitted to travel (move)(e.g. a distance from the reference point, a distance to a precedingtrain). The arrival scheduled platform data shows an arrival scheduledplatform of the next station for the targeted train 2. The travelingdirection data shows a traveling direction of the targeted train 2 (e.g.an inbound direction, an outbound direction, a branch direction). Thetraveling route data shows a traveling route of the targeted train 2.The traveling line data shows the traveling line (inbound line, outboundline) of the targeted train 2. Note that the arrival scheduled platformdata, the traveling direction data, the traveling route data and thetraveling line data can be called travel schedule data showing aschedule of travel of the train 2. Moreover, the train related data 133may further contain the operation mode data and traveling route requesttime data. The operation mode data shows the operation mode of thetargeted train 2. The traveling route request time data shows a time atwhich the targeted train 2 issues a traveling route request (switchingrequest of the railroad switch 51) to the station I/F device 20.

The basic data 134 contains data of a basic configuration of the trains2, the railroad tracks 50 and so on. The train 2 on the railroad lineretains common basic data 134. Here, because the vehicle characteristicis sometimes different for every vehicle, each train 2 retains vehiclecharacteristic data showing the vehicle characteristic of its ownvehicle. The basic data 134 contains linear structure data, station stopposition data, limit position data in case of a failure (for branch),and vehicle characteristic data. The linear structure data shows thestructure of the railroad track 50, and is exemplified by a position,shape and distance of a curved railroad track, a position and distanceof a linear railroad track, a grade of the railroad track, a position ofa station, a branch position, existence or non-existence of doubletrack, a position of the rail yard and so on. The station stop positiondata shows a stop position at every station. The branch limit positiondata shows a traveling limit position on a branch railroad track of therailroad track 50. The vehicle characteristic data shows structurecharacteristic and operation characteristic of the vehicle.

FIG. 5B is a block diagram showing the configuration of the station I/Fdevice 20 of the signaling system according to the present embodiment.The station storage unit 22 contains station in-station related data 142at least.

The station in-station related data 142 contains data related to thestation 3. The station in-station related data 142 is different forevery station 3. The station in-station related data 142 containsrailroad switch switching position data and inter-station section statedata. The railroad switch switching position data shows a switchingposition of each of a plurality of railroad switches 51 which belong tothe station 3, and contains railroad switch command data of eachrailroad switch 51. The railroad switch command data shows the railroadswitch switching command from the train 2 to each of the plurality ofrailroad switches 51 which belong to the station 3. The railroad switchswitching command is a command which instructs the switching of therailroad switch 51, and is related with data of a command source sidetrain 2 and is stored. While the railroad switch switching command isretained, the railroad switch 51 maintains (locks) the switching state.When the railroad switch switching command is erased in response to arailroad switch release command from the command source side train 2,the lock state of the railroad switch 51 is released. The inter-stationsection state data shows whether or not there is a failure between thestation 3 and a neighbor station 3. The railroad switch command data andthe inter-station section state data are transmitted to the on-boarddevice 10 and the operation control device 30, and are stored as thestation related data 132 and the center station related data 152.

FIG. 5C is a block diagram showing the configuration of the center(CTR.) storage unit 32 of the operation control device 30 of thesignaling system according to the present embodiment. The center storageunit 32 contains center (CTR.) operation mode data 150, center (CTR.)train diagram data 151, center (CTR.) station related data 152, center(CTR.) train related data 153 and center (CTR.) basic data 154 at least.

The center operation mode data 150 is the same as the operation modedata 130.

The center train diagram data 151 contains data showing a train diagramof a railroad line and contains the train diagrams for all the trains 2.The train diagram data may be data of the operation interval.

The center station related data 152 contains data related to allstations 3. The center station related data 152 contains the railroadswitch switching position data and inter-station section state data ofthe station in-station related data 142 acquired from all the stations3. The center station related data 152 are appropriately acquired fromthe station I/F devices 20 of all the stations 3.

The center train related data 153 contains data related to the moving(traveling) of all the trains 2. The center train related data 153contains the train position data, the traveling permission limitposition data, the arrival scheduled platform data, traveling directiondata, the traveling route data and the traveling line data of the trainrelated data 133 acquired from all the trains 2. The center trainrelated data 153 are appropriately acquired from the on-board devices 10of all the trains 2.

The center basic data 154 contains data of basic structures of the train2, the railroad track 50 and so on. The center basic data 154 is thesame as the basic data 134.

2. Operation

Next, the operation of the signaling system according to the presentembodiment will be described. In this case, as the operation of thesignaling system, a train interval protection in case of traveling ofthe train 2 between the stations in the usual operation (the normalmode) will be described.

A configuration example of a railroad line to which the signaling systemis applied will be described before the explanation of a specificoperation.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of therailroad line to which the signaling system to according the presentembodiment is applied. This railroad line is provided with a railroadtrack 50 and stations 3. The railroad track 50 is provided with arailroad track 53D, a railroad track 53U and crossovers 53M. Therailroad track 53D is a railroad track of an outbound line providedbetween line ends 161. The railroad track 53U is a railroad track of aninbound line provided between tracks ends 161. The crossover 53M is arailroad track provided in the neighborhood of the station 3 to join therailroad track 53D and the railroad track 53U. A plurality of stations 3are provided between the railroad track 53D and the railroad track 53Uto have intervals. In this railroad line, an area of the station 3 whichcontains the tracks ends 161 is referred to as an end station portion160 and an area of the station other than the end station portions 160is referred to as an intermediate state portion 170. In the signalingsystem, in the intermediate station portion 170 of this traveling route,the traveling directions of the trains 2 in the inbound line 53U and theoutbound line 53D are regarded to be fixed in the usual operation.Below, the operation of the signaling system in such a railroad linewill be described.

Next, a scene of the train interval protection in the configurationexample of the railroad line of FIG. 6 will be described.

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing the scene of the traininterval protection in an inter-station traveling of the train in theintermediate station portion 170. In FIG. 7, the attention should bepaid to the train 2A which travels between the stations in theintermediate station portion 170. It is supposed that the train 2Atravels on the railroad track 53D of the outbound line. The station 3 atwhich the train 2A has been currently stopped is supposed to be acurrent station 3A, the station at which the train 2 stops next issupposed to be a next station 3B, the train 2 preceding to the train 2Ais supposed to be a train 2B. The railroad switches 51 provided at thecurrent station 3A are supposed to be the railroad switches 51A1 and51A2 on the side of the railroad track 53D from the side near thestation 3A, and are supposed to be the railroad switches 51A3 and 51A4on the side of the railroad track 53U. The railroad switches 51 providedat the next station 3B are supposed to be the railroad switches 51B1 and51B2 on the side of the railroad track 53D from the side near thestation 3B and are supposed to be the railroad switches 51B3 and 51B4 onthe side of the railroad track 53U.

As mentioned above, in case of the usual operation, the travelingdirections of the trains 2 in the inbound line 53U and the outbound line53D are fixed in the intermediate station portion 170. That is, thestation I/F device 20 of each station 3 maintains the traveling routbetween the stations 3 to constant directions, and maintains therailroad switch switching positions of the railroad switches 51 inpredetermined directions. The direction of the traveling route isexpressed as the operation mode. In this case, it is the normal mode.The operation control device 30 notifies the operation mode to eachtrain 2 through each station I/F device 20. The operation mode is neverchanged in principle if there is not the occurrence of a predeterminedsituation such as a failure. That is, it is presupposed that the train 2travels on a single line (the railroad track 53D or the railroad track53U) in the intermediate station portion 170 in the normal mode and doesnot cross on the railroad tracks 53 to the opposite side by using thecrossover 53M. In other words, the inbound line (the railroad track 53U)and the outbound line (the railroad track 53D) are independent from eachother. Therefore, in case of the normal mode, it is enough to consideronly the train interval protection to the preceding train 2 on thesingle line in the intermediate station portion 170, for the traininterval protection of the train 2. Here, the train 2 checks the passagedirection of the railroad switch 51 and the inter-station section state,before traveling between the stations.

Note that when it is necessary to cross to another railroad track as inthe end station portion 160 (e.g. the time of folding or switching themode), the traveling route control becomes necessary. That is, adifferent data communication route is necessary in addition to theintervals to the preceding train 2 and the succeeding train 2. Such acase will be described in a second embodiment.

Next, a method of exchanging data between the on-board device 10 of thetrain 2 and a different device will be described.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the operation when the on-board device ofthe train and the different device exchange data. The on-board device 10of the train 2 exchange data with the different device (a plurality ofdifferent on-board devices 10, a plurality of station I/F devices 20,and the operation control device 30) according to necessity, orregularly. In this case, the attention should be paid to the on-boarddevice 10 of the train 2A in FIG. 7.

The operation control device 30 transmits the operation mode (the normalmode) and the train diagram to the on-board device 10 of the train 2Aat, for example, the departure time of the train 2A (Step S1). In thiscase, these data may be transmitted to the on-board device 10 of thetrain 2A through the station I/F device 20 (Steps S1-01/S1-02). Theon-board device 10 of the train 2A stores these data in the storage unit12 (Step S2).

The on-board device 10 (the different train state checking section 72)of the train 2A inquires the train related data to the on-board device10 of the different train 2B (Step S3). The on-board device 10 of thetrain 2B transmits the train related data of the train 2B to theon-board device 10 of the train 2A in response to the inquiry (Step S4).The on-board device 10 (the different train state checking section 72)of the train 2A stores the data in the storage unit 12 (Step S5). Thetrain related data contains the traveling permission limit positiondata, the arrival scheduled platform data, the traveling direction data,the traveling route data, the traveling line data, and the operationmode data (the traveling route request time data, and the train positiondata). The different train 2 having received the inquiry is thepreceding train 2B related to the train interval protection in thiscase. Here, in the operation mode in which entering of the train fromthe crossover 53M is predicted, the inquiry is issued to the trains 2 ina neighbor field (within a predetermined distance) containing the trainon an opposite line in addition to the preceding train.

The on-board device 10 (the station state checking section 73) of thetrain 2A inquires the station related data to the station I/F devices 20of the station 3A and the station 3B (Step S6-1/S6-2). The station I/Fdevice 20 of the station 3A inquires the railroad switch switchingpositions to the railroad switches 51A1 to 51A4 in response to theinquiry (Step S7). The railroad switches 51A1 to 51A4 reply the railroadswitch switching positions to the station I/F device 20 of the station3A (Step S9). In the same way, the station I/F device 20 of the station3B inquires the switching positions to the railroad switches 51B1 to51B4 in response to the inquiry (Step S8). The railroad switches 51B1 to51B4 reply the railroad switch switching positions to the station I/Fdevice 20 of the station 3B (Step S10). The station I/F devices 20 ofthe station 3A and the station 3B transmit the station related data ofthe station 3A and the station 3B to the on-board device 10 of the train2A (Steps S11/S12). The on-board device 10 (the station state checkingsection 73) of the train 2A stores the data in the storage unit 12 (StepS13). The station related data contains the railroad switch switchingposition data, and the inter-station section state data. The stations 3as an inquiry destination are the current station 3A and the nextstation 3B related to the train interval protection in this case. Notethat when the station I/F device 20 always grasps the railroad switchswitching position data, the steps S7 to S10 can be omitted.

In this way, the train 2A inquires necessary data to the other devices(a plurality of different on-board devices 10, a plurality of stationI/F devices 20, and an operation control device 30) regularly oraccording to necessity and acquires the data.

Next, the train interval protection in case of inter-station travelingof the train in the intermediate station section will be describedspecifically.

FIG. 9A is a flow chart showing the operation of the train intervalprotection in case of inter-station traveling of the train in theintermediate station section. The on-board device 10 of the train 2carries out the traveling route securement and the traveling permissionby the train 2 itself based on the exchange of data with theabove-mentioned different device. In this case, the attention should bepaid to the on-board device 10 of the train 2A in FIG. 7.

The on-board device 10 (the train diagram checking section 95) of thetrain 2A reads the train diagram from the storage unit 12 and checks thedeparture time (Step S21). Then, when the departure time comes, theon-board device 10 issues a departure command (Step S22).

Next, the on-board device 10 (the operation mode checking section 71) ofthe train 2A reads the operation mode from the storage unit 12 andconfirms that the operation mode is the normal mode (Step S23). Thus, itis checked and confirmed that any failure has not occurred on therailroad track 50 and that the traveling route of the train 2A on therailroad track 53D of the outbound line is a traveling route whichdestines for the next station 3B on the railroad track 53D.

Next, the on-board device 10 (the different train state checking section72) of the train 2A checks the state of a different train 2 (the train2B) (Step S24). For example, this step can be executed like the steps S3to S5 in FIG. 8. Thus, the on-board device 10 acquires the train relateddata P1 of the train 2B (the traveling permission limit position data,the arrival scheduled platform data, the traveling direction data, thetraveling route data, the traveling line data, and the operation modedata). It is possible to check whether or not the train 2B is in thenormal mode based on the operation mode data. The next destination ofthe train 2B (the station 3) can be checked based on the arrivalscheduled platform data, the traveling direction data, the travelingroute data, and the traveling line data. By the traveling permissionlimit position data, the distance 181 (position 180) to which the train2A can travel can be confirmed. The train related data P1 can beacquired without passing through the control center 4.

Next, the on-board device 10 of the train 2A (the station state checkingsection 73) checks the states of the stations 3 (the station 3A and thestation 3B) (Step S25). For example, this step can be executed like thesteps S6-1/S6-2 to S13 in FIG. 8. Thus, the station related data P2 andP3 (the railroad switch switching position data, and the inter-stationsection state data) are acquired. Whether there is a failure in theinter-station section and whether the on-rail train clearance betweenthe stations has been achieved can be checked based on the inter-stationsection state data. Based on the railroad switch switching positiondata, it can be checked whether the switching positions of the railroadswitches 51A1, 51A2, 51B2, 51B1 which are on the traveling route of thetrain 2A is secured. These station related data P2 and P3 can beacquired without passing through the control center 4.

Next, the on-board device 10 of the train 2A (the traveling routeestablishing section 74) checks the on-rail clearance between thestations and determines whether or not the traveling route of the train2A has been secured, based on the railroad switch switching positiondata of the station related data P2 and P3 (Step S26). That is, it isdetermined whether the switching positions of the railroad switches51A1, 51A2, 51B2, and 51B1 cause any problem in the traveling of thetrain 2A from the station 3A to the next station 3B. Specifically,whether or not the railroad switches 51 are secured and be locked isdetermined in response to the railroad switch switching command from thetrain 2A. When the traveling route has not been secured (Step S26: No),the traveling route establishing section 74 outputs the railroad switchswitching command to the station I/F device 20 of the station 3 (thestation 3A, the station 3B) to which the railroad switches 51 to beswitched (51A1, 51A2, 51B2, and 51B1) belong (Steps S27-1/S27-2).

The station I/F device 20 (the railroad switch operating section 25)relates the railroad switch switching command with the train 2A andstores them in the station storage unit 22 (Steps S28/S29). Then, therailroad switch switching signal is outputted to the targeted railroadswitches 51 (51A1, 51A2, 51B2, 51B1) (Steps S30/S31) in response to therailroad switch switching command. The targeted railroad switches 51(51A1, 51A2, 51B2, and 51B1) are switched in response to the railroadswitch switching signal (Steps S32/S33), and outputs a switchingconfirmation signal to the station I/F device 20 (Steps S34/S35). Thestation I/F device 20 (the railroad switch operating section 25) outputsthe railroad switch switching positions to the on-board device 10 of thetrain 2A in response to the switching confirmation signal (StepsS36/S37). At this time, the railroad switch switching command is storedin the station storage unit 22 so that the railroad switches 51 arelocked by the station I/F device 20 (the railroad switch operatingsection 25). For example, the railroad switch switching signal from thestation I/F device 20 (the railroad switch operating section 25) is setto the high level, and the signal is continuously outputted. The lockingstate is continued until the train 2A passes away, the station I/Fdevice 20 receives the railroad switch release command from the on-boarddevice 10 of the train 2A and the station I/F device 20 erases therailroad switch switching signal. In this case, even if the railroadswitch switching signal is erased, the switching position of therailroad switch 51 may be held without being moved just as it is, untilthe railroad switch switching command is received from the succeedingtrain to the train 2A.

The traveling route establishing section 74 of the on-board device 10determines whether or not the traveling route of the train 2A has beensecured in response to the railroad switch switching position (StepS26). When the traveling route has been secured (Step S26: Yes), thetraveling route establishing section 74 advances toward step S38. Thus,the traveling route securement for the train 2A completes.

Note that the determination for the first time may be made as NO at stepS26 so that the steps from S27 to S36 are executed, regardless ofwhether the traveling route has been secured (whether or not theswitching positions of the railroad switches 51A1, 51A2, 51B2, 51B1 haveany problem as for the traveling of the train 2A to the next station3B). That is, the command (the railroad switch switching command) of theswitching and the maintenance (locking) may be outputted to (the stationI/F device 20 for) the railroad switch 51 on the traveling route atleast once. Thus, the traveling route can be more surely secured.

Next, the on-board device 10 of the train 2A (the traveling permissionlimit position checking section 81) checks the traveling permissionlimit position. That is, a distance 181 (position 180) by which thetrain 2A can travel is checked (Step S38). In a range to the travelingpermission limit position, the on-board device 10 of the train 2A issuesthe traveling permission. Regarding the permission of traveling, apermission range is set in the range between the train 2A and the train2B (e.g. the distance to the traveling permission limit position).Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a conventional closed sectionand so on and the facilities can be simplified.

Next, the on-board device 10 (the speed profile generating section 94)of the train 2A, i.e. the speed profile generating section 94 generatesa speed limit profile indicating an upper limit value of the speed whentraveling from the current station 3A to the next station 3B, based onthe traveling permission limit position, i.e. based on the distance fromthe targeted train 2 to the traveling permission limitation position(Step S39). After that, the on-board device 10 (the traveling section91) of the train 2A starts traveling of the train 2A based on the basicdata 134 (the linear structure, the vehicle characteristic and so on)stored in the storage unit 12, while referring to the speed limitprofile, so that the train 2A travels to the next station 3B accordingto the train diagram (Step S40).

As mentioned above, the train interval protection in the inter-stationtravel of the train in the intermediate station section is carried out.

Here, the release of the locking state of a branch (the railroad switch51) will be described.

FIG. 9B is a flow chart showing an operation when the on-board device ofthe train instructs the station I/F device to release the branch. Thetrain 2A travels on the traveling route secured for the train 2A itself,and passes through the railroad switch 51. The on-board device 10 (thetrain traveling control section 90) of the train 2A checks its ownposition (S221). Then, the on-board device 10 determines whether or notthe train 2A has passed through the railroad switch 51 (Step S222). Whenhaving passed (Step S222: Yes), the on-board device 10 (the traintraveling control section 90) issues a railroad switch release command(Step S223) to the station I/F device 20 (Steps S224-1/S224-2). Whenreceiving the railroad switch release command, the station I/F device 20(the railroad switch operating section 25) outputs a railroad switchrelease signal to the railroad switch 51 or sets the railroad switchswitching command signal to a low level (Steps S225/S226). As a result,the locked state of the railroad switch 51 is released (StepsS227/S228). The railroad switch 51 outputs a release signal indicatingthe release of the lock state, to the station I/F device 20 (StepsS229/S230). The station I/F device (the railroad switch operatingsection 25) erases (Steps S231/S232) the stored railroad switchswitching command and outputs an erasure confirmation data to theon-board device 10 of the train 2A (Steps S233/S234).

In the present embodiment, the on-board device 10 of the train 2 cancarry out the train interval protection in the normal mode by receivingthe train related data from the different train 2, by receiving thestation related data from the station I/F device 20 of the station 3,and by communicating with the station I/F device 20 according tonecessity. That is, in the on-board device 10, mainly, the travelingroute securement determining section 70 secures a traveling route (thetraveling route protection) and the traveling determining section 80 canpermit a passage (the crash protection). As a result, by providing thefunction of the train interval protection to the on-board device 10, itbecomes unnecessary to provide the ATP ground device 232, the stationcontrol device 234 and the interlocking device 236 to the controlcenter, unlike the configuration of FIG. 1. Thus, a space for the ATPground device 232, the station control device 234 and the interlockingdevice 236 can be reduced and, also, the reduction of the introductioncost becomes possible. Moreover, the maintainability of the equipmentcan be improved. Moreover, because the train interval protection iscarried out by the on-board device as a main device, so that the work ofa command issuing member of the control center is changed from theconventional monitoring and controlling operations to the monitoringoperation, the work load of the command issuing member and the skillrequired to the member can be made lower.

Also, the branch control in the present embodiment can be regarded as,mainly, steps S23 to S39 in the above train interval protection. In thiscase, in the branch control of the present embodiment, a series ofsequences of the departure and arrival control and the controls from thetraveling route establishment to the traveling permission can berealized by the cooperation of the on-board device 10 with the stationI/F device 20. Thus, the time until the train 2 starts to travel fromthe station 3 can be reduced. In this way, the function of the branchcontrol can be accomplished by the on-board device 10 and the stationI/F device 20. Thus, the reduction of the space for the devices in thecontrol center and the cost reduction can be accomplished. Moreover,because the on-board device 10 and the station I/F device 20 narrow asequence range, a process time to the railroad switch switching can beshortened. That is, because the time until the train 2 departs thestation 3 can be reduced, the transportation capacity can be reinforced.

Second Embodiment

The signaling system according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention will be described. In the present embodiment, the traininterval protection in case of inter-station traveling of the train 2 inan operation with a failure (a failure mode) in the signaling systemhaving the configuration described in the first embodiment will bedescribed. Below, different points from the first embodiment will bemainly described.

1. Configuration

The control device of the on-board device 10 will be described.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of thetraveling route securement determining section 70 of the control deviceof the signaling system according to the present embodiment. Thetraveling route securement determining section 70 is further providedwith a route determining section 75 and a standby position travelingsection 76 in addition to the configuration of FIG. 4A. The routedetermining section 75 determines a route to avoid a failure part when afailure has occurred in the intermediate section between the stations.The standby position traveling section 76 makes the train 2 travel to apredetermined standby position, when the train travels on the route toavoid the failure part but the route competes against that of thedifferent train 2 in a part of the route.

2. Operation

Next, the operation of the signaling system according to the presentembodiment will be described. In this case, as the operation of thesignaling system, the train interval protection in the inter-stationtraveling of the train 2 in case of the operation at the time ofoccurrence of a failure (the failure mode) will be described.

The state of the railroad line to which the signaling system is appliedwill be described previously to the description of a specific operation.

FIG. 11 is a diagram schematically showing the state of the railroadline to which the signaling system according to the present embodimentis applied. FIG. 11 shows the intermediate station portion 170 in FIG.6. In the intermediate station portion 170, it is shown that the failurehas occurred in the intermediate station portion between the station 3Aand the station 3B. In other words, it is shown that a failure section190 has occurred on the railroad track 53D of the outbound line. In thiscase, the train 2A of the outbound line in the station 3A must take aroute Route_A in order to avoid the failure section 190 in case oftraveling to the station 3B. Here, the route Route_A enters from therailroad track 53D of the outbound line to the railroad track 53U of theinbound line through the crossover 53M, and returns to the railroadtrack 53D through another crossover 53M after traveling on the railroadtrack 53U. On the other hand, the train 2B on the inbound line in thestation 3B tries to take the route Route_B just as it is on the railroadtrack 53U of the inbound line. In this case, the train 2A in the station3A competes against the train 2B in the station 3B in a part of theroute. Below, the operation of the signaling system in the condition ofsuch a railroad line will be described.

Next, a scene of the train interval protection in the state of therailroad line shown in FIG. 11 (in case of occurrence of the failure)will be described.

FIG. 12 is a diagram schematically showing the scene of the traininterval protection in case of inter-station traveling of the train atthe time of the failure section occurrence. In FIG. 12, an attentionshould be paid to the inter-station traveling train 2A in theintermediate station portion 170, like FIG. 7. The stations 3 (3A and3B), the railroad tracks 53 (53U and 53D) and the railroad switches 51(51A1 to 51A4, and 51B1 to 51B4) are the same as those of FIG. 7. It issupposed that the train 2A in the station 3A does not travel on therailroad track 53D of the outbound line just as it is, and travels onthe route Route_A to avoid the failure section 190. It is supposed thatthe train 2B in the station 3B takes the route Route_B on the railroadtrack 53U of the inbound line just as it is.

As mentioned above, when the failure has occurred on the way of theintermediate station portion 170 (the failure section 190) between thestations, the operation control device 30 first instructs the currentstation 3A and the next station 3B to change the operation mode. Thestation I/F devices 20 of the current station 3A and the next station 3Bcheck the on-rail clearance between the stations and then notify thechanged operation mode to the trains 2A and 2B in the stopped state atthe stations 3A and 3B. The trains 2A and 2B recognize that thetraveling routes are the route Route_A and the route Route_B,respectively. The traveling direction of the train 2A and that of thetrain 2B are opposite to each other and the requested traveling routescompete in a branch section between the railroad switch 51A4 and therailroad switch 51B4. Therefore, the competition must be avoided whilethe train 2A and the train 2B adjust the traveling route each other. Thetrain 2A checks the state of the train 2B which has stopped at the nextstation 3B and the switching position states of the railroad switches 51on the route Route_A before the departure. When the train 2B hasacquired a traveling route on the route Route_B, the train 2A advance toa location where the train 2A does not collide with the train 2B (thetraveling permission limit position 180A of the train 2A). The train 2Aswitches the switching positions of the railroad switches 51 along theroute Route_A at the timing that the train 2B approaches the currentstation 3A beyond the traveling permission limit position 180A.Oppositely, when the train 2A acquires the route Route_A as thetraveling route before the train 2B acquires, the train 2B waits forpassage of the train 2A in front of the traveling permission limitposition 180B for the train 2B until the train 2A has passed through thetraveling permission limit position 180B for the rain 2B. The trains 2Aand 2B continue the monitoring of the states of the acquired travelingroutes and the railroad switch switching positions on the acquiredtraveling routes until the train 2 on the opposite side has passedthrough the traveling permission limit position.

Next, the train interval protection in case of the inter-stationtraveling of the train 2 in the operation at the time of occurrence ofthe failure (the failure mode; the state of the railroad in FIG. 11)will be specifically described.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing the operation of the train intervalprotection in case of inter-station traveling of the train in theoperation at the time of occurrence of the failure. The on-board device10 of the train 2 carries out the traveling route securement and thetraveling permission by the train 2 itself based on the exchange of datawith the above-mentioned different devices (a plurality of differenton-board devices 10, a plurality of station I/F devices 20, and theoperation control device 30). Here, the attention should be paid to theon-board device 10 of the train 2A in FIG. 12.

The station I/F device 20 of the station 3A (or the station 3B)recognizes that the failure has occurred between the station 3A and thestation 3B (failure section 190) by an input of the user or a detectionof a sensor, and transmits it to the operation control device 30 of thecontrol center 4 as the station related data (the inter-station sectionstate data (Step S50).

The operation control device 30 changes the operation mode from thenormal mode to the failure mode (failure section 190). Then, theoperation control device 30 transmits the changed operation mode (thefailure mode: the failure section 190) to the station I/F devices 20 ofall the stations 3 (containing the station 3A and the station 3B) (StepsS51-1/S51-2).

The station I/F device 20 of the station 3A checks the on-rail clearanceamong the stations (Step S52), notifies that the operation mode has beenchanged to the failure mode (failure section 190) to the train 2A whichhas been stopped in the station 3A (Step S54). In the same way, thestation I/F device 20 of the station 3B checks the on-rail clearancebetween the stations (Step S53) and notifies that the operation mode hasbeen changed to the failure mode (failure section 190), to the train 2Bwhich has been stopped in the station 3B (Step S55).

The on-board device 10 (the operation mode checking section 71) of thetrain 2A checks that the received operation mode is the failure mode(failure section 190) and stores as the operation mode in the storageunit 12 (Step S56). Thus, it is recognized that the next operation ofthe train 2A is not the operation of the normal mode (the travelingroute for the next station 3B on the railroad track 53D). In the sameway, the on-board device 10 (the operation mode checking section 71) ofthe train 2B checks that the received operation mode is the failure mode(failure section 190) and stores as the operation mode in the storageunit 12 (Step S57). Thus, it is recognized that the operation of thetrain 2B is not the operation of the normal mode (the traveling routefor the next station 3A on the railroad track 53U).

Next, the on-board device 10 (route determining section 75) of the train2A calculates the route Route_A as the shortest traveling route to reachthe station 3B while avoiding the failure section 190 (Step S58). Then,the on-board device 10 outputs the traveling route securement request(the railroad switch switching command) based on the route Route_A tothe station I/F devices 20 of the station 3A and the station 3B, andstores a request time (the traveling route request time) of thetraveling route securement. In the same way, the on-board device 10(route determining section 75) of the train 2B calculates the routeRoute_B as the shortest traveling route to reach the station 3A whileavoiding the failure section 190 (Step S59). Then, the on-board device10 outputs the request of traveling route securement (the railroadswitch switching command) based on the route Route_B to the station I/Fdevices 20 of the station 3A and the station 3B and stores the requesttime of the traveling route securement (the traveling route requesttime). At this time, the station I/F devices 20 of the station 3A andthe station 3B accepts the railroad switch switching command with theearlier traveling route request time, and switches the railroad switches51, and locks the railroad switches 51, as in the step S26 to step S37in FIG. 9A. However, the request time of the traveling route securement(the traveling route request time) may be the times when the station I/Fdevices 20 receive the requests of the traveling route securementtransmitted from the train 2A and the train 2B. In such a case, thestation I/F device 20 necessarily replies the reception time of therequest of the traveling route securement to the train 2A and the train2B regardless of the existence or non-existence of the reception of thetraveling route request.

Next, the on-board device 10 of the train 2A (the different train statechecking section 72) checks the state of the different train 2 (thetrain 2B) (Step S60). For example, this step may be executed as at thestep S3 to step S5 in FIG. 8. Thus, the train related data P11 of thetrain 2B (the traveling permission limit position, the arrival scheduledplatform, the traveling direction, the traveling route, the travelingline, the operation mode, and the traveling route request time) isacquired. Based on the operation mode, it is possible to check whetheror not the train 2B is in the failure mode. The next destination (thestation 3A) of the train 2B can be confirmed based on the arrivalscheduled platform, the traveling direction, the traveling route, andthe traveling line. Based on the traveling permission limit position,the position 180A to which the train 2A can travel can be checked. Basedon the traveling route request time, the time when the train 2Brequested the traveling route securement to the station I/F devices 20of the station 3B and the station 3A can be confirmed.

In the same way, the on-board device 10 of the train 2B (the differenttrain state checking section 72) checks the state of the different train2 (the train 2A) (Step S61). For example, this step can be executed asat the step S3 to step S5 in FIG. 8. Thus, as in the case of the train2A, the train related data of the train 2A (the traveling permissionlimit position, the arrival scheduled platform, the traveling direction,the traveling route, the traveling line, the operation mode, and thetraveling route request time) is acquired.

Next, the on-board device 10 of the train 2A (the station state checkingsection 73) checks the states of the stations 3 (the station 3A and thestation 3B) (Step S62). For example, this step can be executed as at thesteps S6-1/S6-2 to step S12 in FIG. 8. Thus, the station related dataP12 and P13 (the railroad switch switching position, the inter-stationsection state) are acquired. Based on the inter-station section state,it is possible to confirm whether or not there is a failure in theinter-station section. Based on the railroad switch switching position,it is possible to confirm whether or not the switching positions of therailroad switches 51A1, 51A2, 51A4, 51B4, 51B3, 51B1 which are on theroute Route_A as the traveling route of the train 2A are secured.

In the same way, the on-board device 10 of the train 2B (the stationstate checking section 73) confirms the states of the stations 3 (thestation 3A, the station 3B) (Step S63). For example, this step can beexecuted as at the step S6-1/S6-2 to step S13 in FIG. 8. Thus, like acase of the train 2A, the station related data (the railroad switchswitching position, and the inter-station section state) are acquired.

Next the on-board device 10 of the train 2A (the traveling routeestablishing section 74) determines whether the traveling route of thetrain 2A has been secured, based on the railroad switch switchingpositions of the station related data P12, P13 (Step S64). That is, itis determined whether or not the switching positions of the railroadswitches 51A1, 51A2, 51A4, 51B4, 51B3, and 51B1 obstruct the travelingof the train 2A from the current station 3A to the next station 3B.Specifically, it is determined whether or not the railroad switches 51have been secured and locked in response to the railroad switchswitching command from the train 2A. At this time, it is checked whetheror not the traveling route request time of the train 2A is earlier thanthe traveling route request time of the train 2B.

When the traveling route request time of the train 2A is later than thetraveling route request time of the train 2B so that the traveling routeof the train 2A has not been secured (Step S64: No), the on-board device10 of the train 2A (standby position traveling section 76) travels tothe traveling permission limit position 180A (for the branch) in case ofthe failure. Then, the on-board device 10 stands by until the travelingof the train 2B ends (Step S66). For example, when that the travelingroute request time of the train 2A is later than the traveling routerequest time of the train 2B, the train 2A cannot secure the travelingroute because the railroad switches 51 are already locked by the stationI/F device 20. Note that the locking state is maintained until the train2B passes the railroad switches 51 and the train 2B outputs the railroadswitch release command to the station I/F device 20. The station I/Fdevice 20 releases the locking state in response to the reception of therailroad switch release command from the train 2B. In this way, bytraveling to the traveling permission limit position 180A and standingby there, the travel time to the station 3B by the train 2A can bereduced while securing the safety. The standby position travelingsection 76 confirms based on the train related data of the train 2B thatthe train 2B passes through a position preceding to the travelingpermission limit position 180A, and there is no problem even if thetrain 2A enters the railroad track 53U (Step S67).

Note that at step S66, the train 2A may generate a speed pattern suchthat the train 2A does not pass the traveling permission limit positionbefore a time when the train 2B passes the branch. In this case, thetrain 2A does not stop at the traveling permission limit position 180A,and travels slowly on the traveling route in front of the position 180Awithout waiting. By making such an operation, the power efficiency fortraveling of the vehicle is improved, compared with a case to stop thevehicle for the standby and then to drive a motor of the vehicle again.

After that, the on-board device 10 of the train 2A (the traveling routeestablishing section 74) outputs the railroad switch switching commandto the station I/F device 20 of the station 3 (the station 3A, thestation 3B) to which the railroad switches 51 (51A1, 51A2, 51A4, 51B4,51B3, and 51B1) to be switched belong (Step S68-1/S68-2). The stationI/F device 20 (the railroad switch operating section 25) stores therailroad switch switching command in the station storage unit 22 inrelation to the train 2A (Steps S69/S70). Then, in response to therailroad switch switching command, the station I/F device 20 outputs therailroad switch switching signal to the targeted railroad switches 51(51A1, 51A2, 51A4, 51B4, 51B3, and 51B1) (Steps S71/S72). The targetedrailroad switches 51 (51A1, 51A2, 51A4, 51B4, 51B3, and 51B1) areswitched in response to the railroad switch switching signal (StepsS73/S74), and outputs switching confirmation signals to the station I/Fdevice 20 (Steps S75/S76). The station I/F device 20 (the railroadswitch operating section 25) outputs the railroad switch switchingpositions to the on-board device 10 of the train 2A in response to theswitching confirmation signals (Steps S77/S78). At this time, becausethe railroad switch switching command is stored in the station storageunit 22, the railroad switches 51 are locked by the station I/F device20 (the railroad switch operating section 25). Note that the lockedstate is maintained until the train 2A passes the railroad switch 51 andthe train 2A outputs the railroad switch release command to the stationI/F device 20. The station I/F device 20 releases the locked state inresponse to the reception of the railroad switch release command fromthe train 2A. The traveling route establishing section 74 determineswhether or not the traveling route of the train 2A has been ensured inresponse to the railroad switch switching position (Step S64). When thetraveling route has been secured (containing a case where the travelingroute request time of the train 2A is earlier than the traveling routerequest time of the train 2B) (Step S64: Yes), the process advancestowards step S79. Thus, the train 2A completes the traveling routesecurement.

Note that at step S64, when the traveling route request time of thetrain 2A is earlier than the traveling route request time of the train2B, the process of steps S68-1/68-2 to step S78 may be necessarilyexecuted for the first time regardless of whether or not the travelingroute has been secured (not shown). That is, the commands (the railroadswitch switching command) of switching and retaining (locking) may benecessarily outputted to (the station I/F device 20 of) the railroadswitches 51 on the traveling route once. Thus, the traveling route canbe more surely secured.

In the same way, the on-board device 10 of the train 2B (the travelingroute establishing section 74) determines whether or not the travelingroute of the train 2B has been secured, based on the railroad switchswitching positions of the station related data (Step S65). Thesubsequent process is the same as the case of the train 2A (Step S66 toStep S78). However, in case of the train 2B, when waiting, the train 2Bwaits in the traveling permission limit position 180B (for branch) incase of the failure.

Next, the on-board device 10 of the train 2A (the traveling permissionlimit position checking section 81) checks the traveling permissionlimit position (Step S79). In this step, regardless of the travelingroute request time, the traveling permission limit position does notexist for the train 2A in the relation to the train 2B. However, when adifferent train 2 exists on the railroad track 53D of the outbound linein the station 3B, the traveling permission limit position associatedwith the different train 2 exists.

Next, the on-board device 10 of the train 2A (the speed profilegenerating section 94) generates the speed limit profile to be followedby the train 2A when the train 2A travels from the current position tothe next station 3B in the failure mode based on a distance from thetargeted train 2 to the traveling permission limit position (not shown).After that, the on-board device 10 of the train 2A (the travelingsection 91) starts traveling of the train 2A for the next station 3Bbased on the basic data 134 while referring to the speed limit profile(Step S81).

In the same way, the on-board device 10 of the train 2B (the travelingpermission limit position checking section 81) checks the travelingpermission limit position (Step S80). Next, the on-board device 10 ofthe train 2B (the speed profile generating section 94) generates a speedlimit profile based on a distance from the targeted train 2 to thetraveling permission limit position (not shown). After that, theon-board device 10 of the train 2B (the traveling section 91) starts thetraveling of the train 2B for the next station 3A based on the basicdata 134 while referring to the speed limit profile (Step S82).

As mentioned above, the train interval protection is carried out in caseof inter-station traveling of the train in the operation in case ofgeneration of the failure.

In the present embodiment, the on-board device 10 of the train 2 cancarry out the train interval protection in the failure mode, byreceiving the train related data from the different train 2, receivingthe station related data from the station I/F device 20 of the station3, and communicating with the different train 2 and the station I/Fdevice 20 according to necessity. That is, in this case, the same effectas in the first embodiment can be accomplished.

Third Embodiment

The signaling system to according a third embodiment of the presentinvention will be described. In the present embodiment, in the signalingsystem which has the configuration described in the second embodiment,the train interval protection will be described in case of inter-stationtraveling of the train 2 in the normal mode in the end station section.Below, the difference points from the second embodiment will be mainlydescribed.

1. Configuration

The configuration of the present embodiment is the same as that of thesignaling system according to the second embodiment.

2. Operation

Next, the operation of the signaling system according to the presentembodiment will be described. In this case, as the operation of thesignaling system, the train interval protection will be described incase of inter-station traveling of the train 2 in the end stationsection in the normal mode.

The state of the railroad line to which the signaling system is appliedwill be described before the explanation of the operation.

FIG. 14 is a diagram schematically showing the state of the railroadline to which the signaling system according to the present embodimentis applied. FIG. 14 shows the end station portion 160 in FIG. 6. In theend station portion 160, the station 3A is a terminal (departure)station 3 and the track ends 161 are provided for the railroad track 53Dand the railroad track 53U at the end of the station 3A. In this case,the train 2A on the railroad track 53D of the outbound line in thestation 3A must take a route Route_C in order to travel onto therailroad track 53U of the inbound line for the purpose of a shuttleoperation. Here, the route Route_C is a route entering from the railroadtrack 53D of the outbound line to the railroad track 53U of the inboundline through the crossover 53M, and traveling on the railroad track 53Uto the track end 161. On the other hand, the train 2B exists in thetrack end 161 of the railroad track 53U of the inbound line, and triesto travel on the railroad track 53U of the inbound line just as it is,as the route Route_D. In this case, the train 2A on the outbound line inthe station 3A competes with the train 2B on the inbound line in a partof the route. Below, the operation of the signaling system in such arailroad line condition will be described.

Next, a scene of the train interval protection in the state of therailroad line of FIG. 14 (normal mode (end station portion)) will bedescribed.

FIG. 15 is a diagram schematically showing the scene of the traininterval protection in case of inter-station traveling of the train inthe end station portion. In FIG. 15, the attention should be paid to thetrain 2A heading for the track end 161 from the station 3A in endstation portion 160. It is supposed that the train 2A in the station 3Atravels on the route Route_C from the railroad track 53D of the outboundline to the railroad track 53U of the inbound line. It is supposed thatthe train 2B at the track end 161 travels on the railroad track 53U ofthe inbound line as the route Route_D just as it is to head for thestation 3A. It is supposed that the railroad switches 51 of the currentstation 3A are referred to as the railroad switches 51A1 and 51A2 on therailroad track 53D and as the railroad switches 51A3 and 51A4 on therailroad track 53U, in order from the side near the station 3A. Thetrain related data P21 and the station related data P22 are transmittedto the train 2A from the train 2B and the station 3A.

The operations of the train 2A and the train 2B in this case are thesame as those of the second embodiment except that the train 2B has totravel earlier (the train 2B has a priority) and the train 2A do notcross to the railroad track 53D (route Route_C) again. That is, in thesecond embodiment, regarding the control of FIG. 13, a case where thestep S64 is necessarily set to a No state and step S65 is necessarilyset to a YES state can be considered. This is determined from the factsthat the station 3A is the station 3 of the end station portion 160 andthe operation mode is the normal mode.

In this way, in the end station portion 160, the train 2 can carry out ashuttle operation.

In this case, too, the effects of the first and second embodiments canbe obtained.

The program and the data configuration of the present invention arerecorded on a computer-readable storage medium of the computer and maybe read into the information processing unit from the storage medium.

The present invention is not limited to any of the above embodiments,and the above embodiments can be modified appropriately in the range ofthe technical thought of the present invention.

The present invention has been described with reference to the aboveembodiments. However, it would be apparent to a person skilled in theart that these embodiments are merely provided to describe the presentinvention. These embodiments have not to use to interpret the attachedclaims to limit meaning.

A part or the whole of the above-mentioned embodiments and examples canbe described like the following supplemental note, but is not limitedbelow.

The on-board device of the present invention is an on-board device whichis loaded into a moving vehicle traveling on a track. The on-boarddevice includes a control device which controls the traveling of themoving vehicle. The control device is provided with a traveling routesecurement determining section and a traveling route determiningsection. The traveling route securement determining section determineswhether or not a traveling route is secured, based on station relateddata indicating data related to a branch acquired from a stationinterface device of a station to which the branch on the traveling routeof the moving vehicle belongs, and different moving vehicle related dataindicating data related to a different moving vehicle acquired from thedifferent moving vehicle on the traveling route. The travelingdetermining section determines the traveling of the moving vehicle onthe secured traveling route based on the different moving vehiclerelated data.

In the on-board device of the present invention which has such aconfiguration, the traveling route securement determining sectiondetermines the securement of the traveling route (traveling routeprotection) and the traveling determining section determines thetraveling (crash protection). That is, the operation control can becarried out autonomously without passing through the control center.Thus, the processing is made efficient, the devices of the controlcenter (the ATP ground device, the station control device, and theinterlocking device) can be made unnecessary. Also, the space for thedevices can be reduced, facility cost can be reduced, and the treatmentof the equipments becomes easy.

In the above-mentioned on-board device, the traveling route securementdetermining section may include a different train state checking sectionand a station state checking section. In this case, the different trainstate checking section inquires the different moving vehicle relateddata to the different moving vehicle. The station state checking sectioninquires the station related data to the station to which the branchbelongs.

In the on-board device of the present invention which has such aconfiguration, the different train state checking section can inquireand acquire the different moving vehicle related data and the stationstate checking section can inquire and acquire the station related data.That is, the inquiring and acquiring of necessary data to determine thesecurement of the traveling route (traveling route protection) can becarried out without passing through the control center.

In the above-mentioned on-board device, the different moving vehiclerelated data may include traveling permission limit position dataindicating a range where the moving vehicle succeeding to the differentmoving vehicle is permitted to travel. The traveling determining sectionmay determine the traveling of the moving vehicle in the range where thetraveling of the moving vehicle is permitted, based on the travelingpermission limit position data.

In the on-board device of the present invention which has such aconfiguration, because the traveling route determining sectiondetermines the traveling of the moving vehicle, within the travelingpermission range succeeding to the different moving vehicle, the movingvehicle never collides with the different moving vehicle. Also, becausea permission range is set in a range (e.g. a distance) between themoving vehicle and the different moving vehicle, it is not necessary toprovide a conventional closed block and so on and the facilities can besimplified.

The above-mentioned on-board device may further include a radio LANcommunication device configured to acquire the moving vehicle relateddata and the station related data through a radio LAN.

The on-board device of the present invention which has such aconfiguration can send and receive data such as the different movingvehicle related data and the station related data at high speed by thecommunication of the radio LAN.

A signaling system of the present invention includes a plurality ofon-board devices and a plurality of station interface devices. Each ofthe plurality of on-board devices is and loaded on one of a plurality ofmoving vehicles traveling a track, and described in any of the aboveparagraphs. Each of the plurality of station interface devices isbi-directionally communicable with the plurality of on-board devices,and is disposed in one of the plurality of stations provided on a middleway of the track to control the branch belonging to the station.

In the signaling system of the present invention which has such aconfiguration, the on-board device determines the securement of thetraveling route (traveling route protection) and the determining thetraveling (crash protection) based on data from the different on-boarddevice and data from a plurality of station interface devices. That is,the operation control can be carried out autonomously without passingthrough the control center. Thus, the processing is made efficient, thedevices of the control center (the ATP ground device, the stationcontrol device, and the interlocking device) can be made unnecessary.

Also, the space for the devices can be reduced, facility cost can bereduced, and the treatment of the equipments becomes easy.

A control method of a moving vehicle of the present invention is amethod of controlling a moving vehicle traveling on a track. The methodincludes securing a traveling route by an on-board device of the movingvehicle based on station related data indicating data related to abranch acquired from a station interface device of a station to whichthe branch on the traveling route of the moving vehicle belongs, anddifferent moving vehicle related data indicating data related to adifferent moving vehicle acquired from the different moving vehicle onthe traveling route; and determining the traveling of the moving vehicleon the secured traveling route based on the different moving vehiclerelated data.

In the method of controlling the moving vehicle of the present inventionwhich has such a configuration, the on-board device can determine thesecurement of the traveling route (traveling route protection) anddetermine the traveling (crash protection) based on data from thedifferent on-board device and data from a plurality of station interfacedevices. That is, the operation control can be carried out autonomouslywithout passing through the control center. Thus, the processing is madeefficient, the devices of the control center (the ATP ground device, thestation control device, and the interlocking device) can be madeunnecessary. Also, the space for the devices can be reduced, facilitycost can be reduced, and the treatment of the equipments becomes easy.

In the above-mentioned method of controlling the moving vehicle, thesecuring the traveling route may include: inquiring the different movingvehicle related data to the different moving vehicle by the on-boarddevice; and inquiring the station related data to the station to whichthe branch belongs, by the on-board device.

In the method of controlling the moving vehicle of the present inventionwhich has such a configuration, the on-board device inquires andacquires the different moving vehicle related data and inquires andacquires the station related data. That is, the on-board device cancarry out the inquiring and acquiring of the data necessary to determinethe securement of the traveling route (the traveling route protection)without passing through the control center.

In the above-mentioned method of controlling the moving vehicle, thedifferent moving vehicle related data may include traveling permissionlimit position data indicating a range where the moving vehiclesucceeding to the different moving vehicle is permitted to travel. Thedetermining the traveling may include: determining the traveling of themoving vehicle in the range where the traveling of the moving vehicle ispermitted, by the on-board vehicle, based on the traveling permissionlimit position data.

In the method of controlling the moving vehicle of the present inventionwhich has such a configuration, because the on-board device determinesthe traveling of the moving vehicle in the traveling permission rangesucceeding to the different moving vehicle, the moving vehicle nevercollides with the different moving vehicle. Also, because a permissionrange is set in the range (e.g. the distance) between the moving vehicleand the different moving vehicle, it is not necessary to provide aconventional closed block and the facilities can be simplified.

The above-mentioned method of controlling the moving vehicle may furtherinclude acquiring the moving vehicle related data and the stationrelated data through a radio LAN by the on-board device.

The on-board device of the present invention which has such aconfiguration can send and receive data such as the different movingvehicle related data and the station related data at high speed by thecommunication of the radio LAN.

The storage media of the present invention is storing the program tomake a computer execute a method of controlling a specified movingvehicle in either of each of the above paragraphs.

1. An on-board device loaded in a moving vehicle traveling on a track,comprising a control device configured to control the traveling of themoving vehicle, wherein the control device comprises: a traveling routesecurement determining section configured to determine whether or not atraveling route has been secured, based on station related data thatindicates data related to a branch on the traveling route of the movingvehicle and that is acquired from a station interface device of astation to which the branch belongs, and different moving vehiclerelated data that indicates data related to a different moving vehicleand that is acquired from the different moving vehicle on the travelingroute; and a traveling determining section configured to determine thetraveling of the moving vehicle on the secured traveling route based onthe different moving vehicle related data.
 2. The on-board deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the traveling route securement determiningsection comprises: a different train state checking section configuredto inquire the different moving vehicle related data to the differentmoving vehicle; and a station state checking section configured toinquire the station related data to the station to which the branchbelongs.
 3. The on-board device according to claim 1, wherein thedifferent moving vehicle related data comprises traveling permissionlimit position data indicating a range where the moving vehicle behindthe different moving vehicle is permitted to travel, and wherein thetraveling determining section determines the traveling of the movingvehicle within the range where the traveling of the moving vehicle ispermitted, based on the traveling permission limit position data.
 4. Theon-board device according to claim 1, further comprising: a radio LANcommunication device configured to acquire the moving vehicle relateddata and the station related data through a radio LAN.
 5. A signalingsystem comprising: a plurality of the on-board devices, each of which isloaded in one of a plurality of moving vehicles traveling on a track;and a plurality of station interface devices, each of which isbi-directionally communicable with the plurality of on-board devices,and is arranged in one of a plurality of the stations provided along thetrack to control a branch belonging to the station, wherein the on-boarddevice comprises a control device configured to control the traveling ofa corresponding one of the plurality of moving vehicles, wherein thecontrol device comprises: a traveling route securement determiningsection configured to determine whether or not a traveling route for thecorresponding moving vehicle has been secured, based on station relateddata that indicates data related to a branch on the traveling route ofthe corresponding moving vehicle and that is acquired from the stationinterface device of the station to which the branch belongs, anddifferent moving vehicle related data that indicates data related to adifferent moving vehicle of the plurality of moving vehicles other thanthe moving vehicle and that is acquired from the different movingvehicle on the traveling route; and a traveling determining sectionconfigured to determine the traveling of the moving vehicle on thesecured traveling route based on the different moving vehicle relateddata.
 6. A control method of a moving vehicle traveling on a track,comprising: securing a traveling route by an on-board device of themoving vehicle, based on station related data that indicates datarelated to a branch on a traveling route of the moving vehicle and thatis acquired from a station interface device of a station to which thebranch belongs, and different moving vehicle related data that indicatesdata related to a different moving vehicle and that is acquired from thedifferent moving vehicle on the traveling route; and determining thetraveling of the moving vehicle on the secured traveling route based onthe different moving vehicle related data.
 7. The control method of themoving vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the securing the travelingroute comprises: inquiring the different moving vehicle related data tothe different moving vehicle by the on-board device; and inquiring thestation related data to the station to which the branch belongs, by theon-board device.
 8. The control method of the moving vehicle accordingto claim 6, wherein the different moving vehicle related data comprisestraveling permission limit position data indicating a range where themoving vehicle behind the different moving vehicle is permitted totravel, and wherein the determining the traveling comprises: determiningthe traveling of the moving vehicle in the range where the traveling ofthe moving vehicle is permitted, by the on-board vehicle, based on thetraveling permission limit position data.
 9. The control method of themoving vehicle according to claim 6, further comprising: acquiring themoving vehicle related data and the station related data through a radioLAN by the on-board device.
 10. A non-transitory recording medium whichstores a program, when being executed, to make a computer execute acontrol method of a moving vehicle traveling on a track, wherein thecontrol method of the moving vehicle comprises: securing a travelingroute by an on-board device of the moving vehicle, based on stationrelated data that indicates data related to a branch on a travelingroute of the moving vehicle and that is acquired from a stationinterface device of a station to which the branch belongs, and differentmoving vehicle related data that indicates data related to a differentmoving vehicle and that is acquired from the different moving vehicle onthe traveling route; and determining the traveling of the moving vehicleon the secured traveling route based on the different moving vehiclerelated data.